green



March 5, 1929. T. w. GREEN 1,704,043

SUCTION S TREET CLEANER Filed March 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 35 GOVT-"1:1:- j. if F .2; u as 45 E5 a;

Filed March 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet T. W. GREEN SUCTION STREET CLEANER March 5, 1929.

Filed March 1923 5 Sheets-Sheet Patented Marc 5, 1929.

THUB'IAS' W.

. OF PHILADELFHZA,

Wy n a w re"; art 1 PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGHOR T THOMAS CORPORATIGN- 0E PENNSYLVAIFIQA.

sncrion srnnnr CLEANER.

' Application filed March 1, 1923. Serial No. 622,091.

My invention relates to street cleaners and more particularly tocleaners adapted to automatically and dustlessly gather the dirt from a strect when traversing it. It is particularly adapted to use with an auto truck.

The purpose of my invention is to provide a machine of the character indicated that is at once easy and inexpensive to manufacture and well adapted to meet the needs of serv ice.

A further purposeis to provide means for simultaneously using the discharge and suction of a blower adapted to be driven along a street by auto, providing a succession of suction ports with a succession of envelop- 7 ing and inwardly directed discharge ports, in front and rear as well as at the sides thereof. The blastfrom the forward discharge ports loosens the dirt and drives it toward the suction ports while the blasts from the side and rearward discharge ports give the street a final scrubbing, driving the dirt forward to the same suction ports.

A furtherpurpose is to provide a novel r separator and dirt tank whereby the dirt gathered from the street is continuously separated from the air and is continuously delivered into the dirt tank.

Further purposes will appear in the specification and claims.

I have preferred to illustrate my invention 'by but one form except with respect to a minor detail, selecting a form which is at once practical and efficient in operation and which well illustrates the principles in volved.

Figurel' is aside elevationofapparatus illustrating my invention.

'Figure 2 is a rear elevation of a structure like F igure 1, except" that it shows a different form of dirt separator.

Figures 3, 4 and 5 are respectively top plan, and front'and sideelevations of the -.dirtgathering shoe with blast connections from the blower and delivery pipes to the separator.

. Figure 6 is a bottom plan view of Figure 3 but with the bottom plate cutaway upon one half of the figure.

Figure 7 is a section upon the line 7 7 of Figure 6.

Figure 8 is an enlarged section showing a part of Figure 7.

Figures 9 and 10 are respectively side elevation and section upon line 1010 in Figure 9 showing the dirt tank. Figures 11 and 12 are front and side elevations of one form of dirt-separator, that shown in F igure 2. The covering is partly removed in Figure 12. 7

Figures 13 and 14 are front and side elevations of another form of separator, that shown in Figure 1.

Figure 15 is a top plan View showing the separator of Figures 13 and 14 in position.

Figure 16 is a fragmentary section of Figure 15 upon line 1616.

Figure 17 is a fragmentary end elevation of Figure 15, a part being broken away.

Inall the figures likernumbers refer to like parts.

Describing in illustration and not in limitation and referring to the drawings:

Conditions of service for suction street cleaners are much more severe than those for vacuum cleaners for use upon the floors of houses. In the vacuum cleaners for houses, the dirt-gathering shoes are relatively very small and moreover in use they reciprocate repeatedly back and forth over the surface being cleaned. By reason of the relatively small area of the shoe and the uniform flatness of floors there is little trouble from lack of uniformity of fitting engagement between the shoe and the fioor, and. by reason of the repeated reciprocation during cleaning, dirt and dust missed during a forward stroke of the cleaner is caught during a'return stroke.

In the suction street cleaner the dirtgathering shoe is relatively Very large and inequalities of street surface are such as to make impossible any close uniformity ofdistance between the shoe and difi'erent parts of the street. Moreover, the street cleaner does not reciprocate but must make a clean job of it in one passage, a condition particularly stringent in View of the presence of compacted manure and other refuse clinging to the street, as well as loose and bulky wastes which should be picked up and carried along with a single passage of the cleaner and with a minimum of dust.

In meeting these stringentconditions, I-

its surface downwardly and inwardly directupon the street through ports 21 a blast of of the blower to the pressure blast upon the street resurface beneath the 'Ertcept for gradual diffusion the some over ed some sir air is circl'duted end re-circuioted over, as the reator port of the v which leaves the discharge p around the shoe and strikes the pure :1 heavy blast to loosen and ruis v neeth the shoe 'lQGllti-JTS the shoe loaded with way :0

dirt at the suction ports. Zihere thus no appreciable flow of air ova-1y from the ch on the surface of the street end consequ y no t ndency to raise dust other than that which swept through the suction ports to the casing.

The blower for siinult heavy cii'fculution of sir to uni the shoe iii- 1y .c? uneously illil iidlng n beneut I :vieusly beef 2 I ble of supplying the l'ilsst and i blower shown is merely a pre er; Advent-ages ofthis type of blower lie in its adaptation to high suction and pressure with high cupuci ,7 us well as in its udspinticn to reversal in direction of flow. The reversal permits loosening of clogging; inn by brief reverse rot -ion without rcqi-iiring openingor mud] of the cloggea no The forward one of the sloped as at :29.

The blower 27 is shown as mounted directly back of the sent 30 of the truck chassis 31 and discharges to the shoe through the outlet pipe 28 and flange slip joint Bc cause flow about the pressure ohzunber is restricted by the connections of pipes i l the air is distributed through pipe 3 and branches 35 and v6. The blast openinos (nozzles) 21 lead directly nu the clinn'ibor. The pressure chamber is civided from the suction chamber 37 by a diagonal wall 38. The connection of pipes with the suction chamber is by fiunge joints 39.

lVith-in the raising the pipes 2;: charge on opposite sides she I it dirt ing basket or box 4:0 resting in the of the casing and shown in two dc forms. In Figures 9 and 10 this mounted upon wl ieels 4-1 so as tobe free to roll within the bottom of the casing); and provided with a hinged end 42 which may be opened for renn i of the dir w without removal of dis- 'l Y i: e box.

ports in n flat lower surface.

and use to box 40. The casing is closed by door 42 opposite the box. 7

The outlet of air. withdrawn through pipe shown in Figures 1347. The screen may howeve be in the form of a fixed casing 44; of any desired shape whose interior is in con'ununication with the pipe 26. In either case the exterior is of filteringniuterielsuch us seems and as shown at l5, mounted upon 21 wire nettii'ig support 46.

In the use of the rotary form I have shown is mounted within the upper part of the casing 25 upon a shaft'li' passing through the casing and driven by a Worm end worm gear at 4-9. One end ofthe r nndrinil sc con is closed at and the other end 51 is open and in coinnmniczttion with the end of the pipe 26.

In order that the dust and dirt within the casing may og the surface and end of the screen as ht e as possible, brushes 52 and are mounted to bear against these surfaces and to scrape them as the screen rotates.

Rotation of the screen provided by pul ley 5i upon'zi blower shaft connecting with pulley 55 whose'shuft curries woii nfl8. The pulleys are connected by belt 56.

The blower is driven as by belt 57 from my part of the conne ting mechanism between the engine 58 and the driving wheels (from or back) or conuectedwith any of the; i. It has not been considered necessary to show the detail of, any of this driving mechanism. I

The shoe 20 is resiliently supported by any epices, us best seen in Figures 3 and 6. The discharge ports 21 strepreferarbly arranged eral form of u diamond having rounded 0 that there is {L disclrarge port uhoifrt half way ports.

The shoe may, be made up of pressed metal iurts so arranged as to form churnbers in the iorm of e divided. annulus or two annuli of generally triangular form in cross section'- huving the suction chamber inside and below the pressure chamber to present full suction The pressure annulus in outside of and above the suction annulus, aind presents an edge only at the bottom within which are formed the blast ports.

In the (30119311105011 of the shoe the suction chamber 37 is formed be een the bottom plate 63 and the walls 64 and 3-8 forming an bet'i-veenen'chpuir'of successive suction annulus of triangular section; As illustrated inv section the wall 738 forms the hymeans for fastening these plates together.

In order that the interior of the upper partot the casing may be accessible without releasing the bearing for the rotary a1r filter and-without necessity for full bearing support when the doors are open, the rear end of the shaft 47 is supported by a bearing 69 hung by means of any bracket or strap 70 and extending at the back so as to be supported by the doors when they are closed. The upperv doors divide along a vertical medial line and each door carries a half, 72 of a support for thebearing 69 inclosing between them'the extension 7 This givesthe strap and bearing additional support when the doors are closed and makes it possible to use a light strap which is little in the Way. It may even be flexible.

The brush 52 is shown as supported by thebracket or strap. It may be given stiffness in directions parallel with the shaft 47 b the Jressure of the doors a ainst it.

WVhere the nonrotatable form of separator or air filter is used as in Figure 2, I sup port it by flanges'T r sliding in angles or other supports 75 so that the open end76 is in contact with the casing end about pipe 26.

A rake 7 7 shown diagrammatically, is pro vided in front of the shoe. This rake serves the double purpose of fending ofl material too large for the shoe, such as boxes and boards, and of so scattering and spreading out horse droppings and small heaps'ofrefuse dumped upon the street, as to permit the shoe to gather them up clean.

l/Vhile I have described my invention in connection with the street cleaning use for which it has undoubted utility, I recognize that on a smaller scale it will be highly ad vantageous for use in cleaning large surfaces indoors, particularly in stores and other such public places where the present cleaners are but poorly suited because of the excessive amount of dirt and the large areas to be covered. It is my intention therefore to apply my invention to both of these uses.

In operation the cleaner is moved along the street or floor area at the same time that theblower 27 is operated to direct a blast of air about the edges of the shoe. Coincidentally with this blast the suction of air from thecasing through pipe 26 tends to produce a vacuum within the casing, applying the suction to the inlet (suction) openings 23, 23 and resulting in these suction openings gathering in substantially all of the air which has been driven down against the surface, alon with the dust or dirt which have been loosened by the blast.

As the dirt-laden air reachesthe interior of the casing the dust and dirt fall into the storage box. Any tendency of the dust and dirt in the air within the casing to be delivered upon or to settle upon the surface of the separator and to clog this surface is. corrected in the rotary form by scrapmg the surface as it" rotates. here the rotary form of separator is not used a blast driven through the pipes backward by reversing the direction of rotation of the parts causes any dirt which has attached itself to the surface of the separator to be cast off.

The freedom of the shoe to lift at either end and at either side allows it to follow somewhat the contour of the street or irregularities in the floor, sliding over humps and accommodating easily to slopes of the surface.

The door 42 when open forms a platform or slope upon which the refuse box or car can be withdrawn and by which it can be conveniently replaced.

In view of my disclosure those familiar with the art will see various other ways in which all or part of the advantage of my invention may be secured and it is my purpose therefore to cover herein all such changes and modifications as come within the reasonable spirit and scope-of my claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a dirt gathering device, a shoe having small downwardly directed suction ports arranged about the periphery of the bottom of the shoe and closed in the space between the ports means for moving the shoe over a surface to be cleaned and means for producing an air-blast upon the surface about all of the suction ports and angularly inclined theretoward.

2. In a dirt gathering device, a wheeled support, a blower near the forward end thereof, a dirt gathering shoe having downwardly directed suction ports and pressure outlets, the latter surrounding the space into whichithe suction ports open, the surface of the shoe being closed in the space between the ports, resilient connections between the supportand the shoe maintaining the shoe somewhat above and substantially lOl) suction ports, and a conduit connection ti-0m the chamber to the inlet of the blower. I

3. A 'dirt' gathering device, comprising a wheel mounted frame, a shoe carried thereby, a casing upon the frame, a blower, and downwardly opening pressure and exhaust connections from the blower with said shoe leading from and exhausting into said casing and having the pressure ports located outside of the exluust ports, the surface within and between the exhaust ports being closed. 7

LA dirt gathering device, comprising a wheel mounted frame, a shoe carried there by, a casing upon the frame, a blower and fni'essuie and exhaust connections from said blower with said shoe leading from and exhausting into said casing and having the pressure ports 10 *ated between exhaust ports.

5. In a dirt gathering device, a wheel mounted frame,- a shoe carried thereby having a bottom closed throughout the greater part of its extent, a blower carried by the from suction ports located inside the pressure ports and in close proximity to them and connected to discharge into said casing.

-6. A shoe for blast and suction surtace cleaning coniprilsinga pressureannulus and a suction annulus, the pressure annulus be-' mg ported about its outer circumference and the suction annulus being ported along the bottom and closed between the ports in con'rbination. with pressure ilil'id SU'Cti'Oll connections to the two annuh and common blower n1 Cllfllllsl'n or creating the pressure and suction.

' THOMAS GREEN. 

